Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Traditional (or “offline”) betting involving multi-player tournament type sports betting is well known. The proliferation of computers, and web-based technology in particular, has led to the popularity of “online sports betting” in recent years. Fixed odds betting is a type of sports betting where bets are placed by players through various electronic gaming platforms, including online internet gaming operators and retail gaming establishments.
In both traditional and fixed odds betting, the type of bet and corresponding betting odds are set by a bookmaker (also known as “bookie”). Fixed odds betting is also sometimes referred to as “in-play sports betting” or “in-play tournament sports betting” as bets are made while tournaments are in-play.
Due to the sheer volume and variety of “in-play” bets available with fixed odds betting, bets are typically set by electronic algorithms designed to account for a large number of variables and events as they occur, in real time. The same algorithms are designed to statistically guesstimate a result and convert this result into a risk-reward outcome for each bet. The generation of so-called “odds” are based on this risk-reward determination. An in-play sports betting platform will typically offer players options to make wages using a variety of different types of bets familiar to experienced players.
Due to the large number of bets offered in in-play sports betting, platform owners place significant emphasis in providing a well-designed user interface the aim of which is to allow players to (i) easily discern between the types of bets, (ii) is friendly in terms of the player placing multiple bets, and (iii) allows players to make snap judgments with respect to future wages or changes to existing wages.
A well laid out in-play sports betting platform interface normally will provide a complete player betting experience and an abundant set of betting selections (bets). Enhancing the experience by adding more functionality can make navigating through player selections difficult, may require moving content to other pages, or even eliminating some bets to reduce the overall complexity of the in-play experience. As a result—and also because players are distrustful of in-play sports betting platforms that don't fall in line with industry customary look and feel user interfaces—adding new functionalities is very uncommon.
With the proliferation of in-play betting platforms and the inclination of platform owners to stick to a user interface that will be familiar to prospective players, platform UIs tend to offer very similar bet selections and similar set of functionalities. To many platform owners this is desirable in that new players do not have a great learning curve when joining a new platform to make wagers. On the flip side, by not adding functionalities, many platforms today suffer in that they provide a stale player experience with no new clever and fun offerings to capitalize on the in-play sports betting aspects that have been around for so long.
It is desirable to be able to adapt fixed odds betting platforms to include innovative new functionalities. It is further desirable to be able to integrate the new functionalities into an existing UI platform in a way that does not compromise or substantially change the player experience with which the player is familiar.
In addition to the look and feel and UI aspect of a platform, it is important when adding functionalities to not limit or restrain the number of different types of bets normally offered by the various platforms. By way of background, the different types of bets available to players today include:
Moneyline Betting: Moneyline bets are bets that do not have a “handicap”. The favored team in a moneyline type bet pays lower odds than does the underdog; also, odds for different outcomes in a single moneyline bet are related to the ratio of full payout to the “stake”.
Handicap Betting: Handicap betting involves giving a selection a virtual deficit (a handicap or “spread”) to overcome at the start of an event. Choosing a different selection, which does not have a handicap, implicitly gives the different selection a virtual start in the event. When a wager is placed on a selection with a handicap, the winner is determined by adding the selection score and the handicap and comparing the combined result to the score of the opponent.
The purpose of a handicap is to “even up” the odds in a match where one selection is statistically “inferior” to that of an opponent selection.
Proposition Betting: Proposition bets are wagers made on a very specific outcome of a match. Examples include predicting the number of goals each team scores in a soccer match, betting whether a player will score in a soccer game, or wagering that a soccer player on one team will accumulate more hits than a player on the opposing team.
Parlay Betting: Parlay bets involve a player placing multiple bet selections (usually up to 12). When a player makes multiple bet selections, the risk rewards are such that a successful player is awarded with a large payout. To give an example, a player could include four different wagers in a four-team parlay, whereby he is wagering that all four bets will win. If any of the four bets fails to cover, the player loses the parlay, but if all four bets win, the player receives a substantially higher payout than if he made the four wagers separately.
A progressive parlay is special type of parlay bet. In a progressive parlay—unlike a regular parlay—reduced payouts are awarded even when some of the bet selections lose.
A teaser type bet allows a player to combine bets on two or more different games. In a teaser bet, a player is able to adjust the point spreads for, for example, two games, but must get all the games correct to win and recognizes a lower return in comparison to parlays.
An “if bet” consists of at least two straight bets joined together by an “if clause” which determines the wager process. If the player's first selection complies with the condition (clause), then the second selection will have action; if the second selection complies with the condition, then the third selection will have action and so on.
Some bets, such as goal line bets are wagers offered as alternatives to straight-up/moneyline prices in, for example, soccer. Goal line type bets feature a fixed point spread that (usually) offers a higher payout for the favorite and a lower payout for the underdog (both in comparison to the moneyline).
While all sports wagers are by definition on future events, bets listed as “futures” generally have a long-term horizon measured in weeks or months; for example, a bet that a certain team will win the upcoming season.
In “Head-to-Head bets”, players predict competitor results against each other (i.e., the competitors) and not on the overall result of the event. A player can also wage on a tie in some cases. A 2nd half (Second half) bet is also sometimes called a halftime bet. This bet is placed only at halftime of a particular sporting event. This bet may be placed on the spread (Line) or over/under. The resulting bet that is placed is won or lost only on the points scored by both teams in the second half only.
In totalizators (sometimes called flexible-rate bets), the odds are changing in real-time according to the share of total exchange each of the possible outcomes have received taking into account the return rate of the bookmaker offering the bet. For example: If the bookmakers return percentage is 90%, 90% of the amount placed on the winning result will be given back to players and 10% goes to the bookmaker. Naturally, the more money bet on a certain result, the smaller the odds on that outcome become. In horse racing and dog racing, this is known as pari-mutuel wagering.
Given the wide range in terms of types of bets that may be offered by an in-play sports betting platform, the bookmaker is required to continuously set and update odds for all available bets.
Some platforms independently create and display odds selections. In other platforms, odds are set by a third party bookmaker service and served as an electronic feed to subscribing feed platforms. When receiving third party bookmaker feeds, some platform owners may opt to modify fed results in order to adjust the odds slightly to offer players slightly more attractive winnings, as a way to attract new members.
Notwithstanding the type of bookmaking mechanism selected by a platform owner, a common characteristic of in-play sports betting platforms is the inclination to stick to a user interface that's familiar to prospective new members and which, at the same time, is configured to visually support the display of a large number of bets in a user-friendly manner.
While, as above described, it is desirable to be able to add new functionalities and yet still support the different types of bets in a user friendly way, it is further desirable that the adding of new functionalities not adversely impact the bookmaking feed mechanism chosen by a platform owner.
In setting odds, the bookmaker is generally concerned that the probability implied by the odds is greater than the true probability for each possible outcome so the is positive expected profit. If wagers on each outcome are made in ratio to the implied odds, then the bookmaker is guaranteed a profit (balanced book).
An unbalanced book means that the odds set did not result in a positive profit for a certain set of bets over a given period. When this happens, the platform owner will have losses.
It is desirable to be able to introduce new functionalities to fixed odds betting which eliminate or reduce the risk of losses to platform owners.
In general, in-play sports betting has become so ubiquitous that players have a wide variety of online internet operators from which to choose. As such, in order to remain competitive and not lose players to another internet operator, bookmakers must and do, for the most part, offer pay out terms in fixed odds betting that are very similar. Despite this, there is no guaranteed way that a bookmaker's odds will not bring about substantial losses to a platform owner. This is particularly the case when the volume, in terms of players and player wages, is low in relation to another platform with a higher number of players and wages that is better able to absorb losses.
One way platforms susceptible to low volume losses mitigate risk is to pool bets from different internet operators, or outsourcing the bookmaking to a third party that is large enough to be able to absorb the risk. One benefit of this is that bet types, and in some cases also the odds, are common across many online gaming operators, and no one operator is disadvantaged in not offering players bet types that another offers. Also, it affords smaller operators the opportunity to appear as large gambling establishments, giving the players a sense of security that their wagers are safe. The problem is that by associating with third party bookmakers, profit margins are squeezed.
To compete with larger or more popular platforms, fixed odds betting platforms often seek to entice new members by offering bonus money for “free play” as well as other incentives. The problem is that bonuses squeeze profits further when overall player wager activities fail to generate the desired level of real wagering and the incident profits therefrom to cover the costs of incentives.
Accordingly, it is further desirable to be able to add functionalities to fixed odds betting platforms that eliminate or reduce the need for bonuses as incentives.
The attraction and ubiquity of fixed odds betting, as opposed to non-fixed odds betting, is in large part attributed to the fact that a player, in theory, can reduce the risk of losses—and conversely, increase the chances of winning—by factoring one's knowledge of sports, teams, players, statistics, etc. into the wage selection process.
It is further desirable that the adding of new functionalities enhance the overall player experience without restricting user's personal knowledge in the wager decision.